I Am Burt Reynolds

(2020) I Am Burt Reynolds DOCUMENTARY

Co-produced, written and directed by Adrian Buitenhuis, a self examination of Burt Reynolds life of some of his most memorable film roles- from the time he stepped his foot into the door to his biggest break which is "The Deliverence" to some of his most popular which are the "Smokey and the Bandit" movies. His philosophies and the way he handled most of his money, which he was exploited and some of it was squandered. It was quite enlightening.

Interviews also include Bruce Dern, Joe Nameth, Loni Anderson, Marilou Henner, Jon Voight, Peter Bogdonovich and two people who worked on Burt's final memorable film appearance "The Last Movie Star" director Adam Rifkin and his co-star Ariel Winter.

This documentary about Burt Reynholds is interesting, informative and entertaining. The documentary is largely based on Reynhold's career, but also deals with his private life. The film's strength is good analyzes of his achievements on the screen made by close friends and colleagues in the industry. Jon Voight and Bruce Dern's participation in the film in particular gives the documentary weight as they were both close friends and colleagues of Burt. The documentary also has clips from highlights of his career, as a reminder of how good he was. Burt Reynholds was a superstar, and the documentary shows well why he became so popular and loved by many.

Enjoyable documentary charting the life of Reynolds who, lest we forget, was for some years probably the biggest star on the planet totally eclipsing anything we have today. What is so interesting is how very good he was holding court and being kind to people possibly at the expense of his career. In addition, like so many famous people he was heavily influenced by a tough and seemingly rather a cold, loveless father who Reynolds adored.

Obviously as a good looking hugely talented star his years where he was making many hits was a happy time and clearly Reynolds was a charming, witty and generous man. It is sad then that his career largely fell apart and his many stunt injuries resulted in his need for drugs for so long and he seemed to just lose his way - a much loved man whose life came bar the love he had for his son, to a very sad conclusion.

The documentary was decently done but there were a few missing "shots" that should have been included, such as brief scenes from Dan August and Hawk. Also, there was NO MENTION of his first wife, Judy Carne, or of his long relationship with Dinah Shore. That is absolutely a failing and an integral part of who he was as a person, not a star. They should have included some reviews of his movies and as a guest host on Johnny Carson (one guest was Judy Carne; they saw one another six years after their bitter divorce). They failed to include mention of some of his older films, like 100 Rifles with Raquel Welch and Jim Brown.

He was fun, he could laugh at himself, he was great to his fans, and he made entertaining movies that still stand today.

His Cosmopolitan cover hung on the walls of a few million women I am sure. You knew that if you had the chance you would have loved him for his absolute sexiness that he didn't realize that he had.

Evening Shade was such a great series and it ended abruptly because as we know now, he probably was having very painful back spasms and living with drug addiction.

I remember the scandal of his divorce from Loni as it was as huge a shock to us as it was to her at the time! It cost him the show and for a long time he was quite toxic if that's the word for him But Boogie Nights! He was just so deserving of that Academy trophy. We felt his heart that night as did Robin Williams I think.

Anyway, the documentary pretty much covers him ! He was the last of the big Stars!